Austin Energy generates power through a diverse generation portfolio of natural gas, coal, nuclear, renewable resources and purchased power. Browse data about our power plants: percent owned; fuel type used; capacity in MW; and installation year. Go to http://austinenergy.com/go/info to learn more.

Austin Energy has installed solar projects on municipal facilities such as City Hall, libraries, and recreation centers to increase public awareness about solar power and demonstrate the effectiveness of this technology. View the location name, address, year installed, and system size in kW. Go to austinenergy.com/go/solar to learn more about solar solutions from Austin Energy.
Please note that this data set is no longer updated and should be considered static.

The system fuel cost average is the cost of fuel purchased, divided by the number of kilowatts generated. View the system annual average fuel cost (cents/kWh) starting in 2006. Go to http://austinenergy.com/go/reports to learn more.

As part of the FY 2013 rate case, Austin Energy restructured its customer classes.

Austin Energy’s four customer classes include:

Residential — customers living in single-family dwellings, mobile homes, townhouses or individually metered apartment units.

Secondary — commercial customers including small to large businesses. This means Austin Energy owns, operates and maintains the equipment supplying power to those facilities .
Secondary 1 — commercial customers served at less than 10 kW.
Secondary 2 — commercial customers served between 10 and 50 kW. Secondary 3 — commercial customers served at more than 50 kW.

Primary — customers that take service at high voltage and own, operate and maintain their own equipment. Consequently, Austin Energy experiences lower overall system losses and expense in serving these customers. Large commercial and industrial customers such as semiconductors, hightech facilities and data centers typically fall under this level of service. These customers have very high usage and load factors because they tend to operate 24/7.
Primary 1 — commercial customers served at less than 3 MW.
Primary 2 — commercial customers served between 3 and 20 MW.
Primary 3 — commercial customers served at more than 20 MW.

Contract/Transmission — customers owning and maintaining all equipment on the customer side for electric delivery and receiving service at 69 kV or above. Contract applies to a small number of large commercial customers operating under legacy contracts.

Lighting — typically refers to street lighting and facilities including ballparks.

Austin Energy provides rebates and low interest loans to customers who make energy efficiency improvements. During fiscal year 2012, energy savings totaled nearly 106-million kilowatt hours. That's enough electricity to power nearly 9,400 residential homes in Austin.

Austin Energy offers free home energy improvements to customers with low to moderate incomes who qualify. The improvements reduce energy costs and enhance indoor comfort. Qualifying customers can have their home weatherized and receive home improvements. These improvements include attic insulation, solar screens, compact fluorescent light bulbs, minor duct repair and sealing, caulking and weather stripping and other improvements. Customers participating in the program can realize energy savings from 6 to 21 percent. Find more information at http://austinenergy.com/go/reports.

Qualifying utility customers receive waivers and discounts on their utility bills. The City of Austin has one of the most generous Customer Assistance Programs in the nation. Utility bill discounts are a key component of the program. They are provided to customers already receiving benefits through a variety of federal, state, county or city assistance programs. In February 2014, the Austin City Council voted to expand the discount program to 45,000 customers a year. Additionally, in 2015 the Austin City Council voted to no longer have a waitlist as well as include Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers as a qualifier.

Under the program, qualifying Austin Energy customers receive a waiver of the $10 monthly electric customer charge; are exempt from paying the portion of the community benefit charge that supports the Utility Bill Discount Program; and they receive a 10% discount on their kWh usage charge. Austin Water customers also receive a discount on the water/wastewater customer charge as well as a volumetric discount on a customer’s water usage. Watershed Protection provides a 50% discount on the drainage fee. Public Works under a separate qualification waives the transportation user fee.

Customers who qualify for utility bill discounts are receiving an average of $792 per year per family, $248 of which comes from Austin Energy. Total utility bill savings for the recipients is over $18 million annually.

Below is a summary of electric account savings only.

Between 1982 and 2006, Austin Energy's energy efficiency programs offset the need to build a 700 megawatt (MW) power plant. This became known as Austin Energy's first conservation power plant. In 2007, Austin Energy kicked off a new goal with the Austin Climate Protection Plan, which is to offset another 800 MW of peak energy demand by 2020. Between 2007 and 2012, Austin Energy has offset an additional 318 MW which is 40% of the 800 MW goal.

Note: Total participation does not include GB commercial square foot.

Blank cells indicate data are not available because the program either had not started, has been discontinued, or we no longer track that data.

Austin Energy is one of the few utilities in the nation that tries to meet with each property owner in advance of tree trimming. A plan detailing the trimming needed for each tree on a property is discussed and provided to the property owner for their acknowledgment and signature. When property owners refuse to meet or cooperate with scheduling, they receive a letter that indicates when trimming will occur. The number of refusal letters is extremely small, often less than 1 percent annually. Find more information at http://austinenergy.com/go/trees and http://austinenergy.com/go/reports.